


Lady Aithusa

by jesslovesducks



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Plentiful sword fighting, probably eventual smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 10:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4560723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesslovesducks/pseuds/jesslovesducks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The long thought extinct tribe of The Dragon Warriors, assumed so considering the lack of dragons to hunt, spits out a female warrior, Jessica Louise Aithusa, one of the last of them. She has to steal to survive, wanting to stay a secret, but of course is soon discovered, as well as her roots. Eventually pushing too far, knights of Camelot capture her, and she meets Arthur. Apart from that I have no idea where this is going, and will probably be fairly slow updates :3</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lady Aithusa

I'd only been minding my own business, walking through the forest looking for some fresh water, when the thunder of horses hooves and clatter of armor startled me out of my peaceful state. I quickly pull my cloak further around me, hiding my armor and weapons, as well as my bag. Just as I'm looking for somewhere to hide, the horses and riders come into view. I swear when I see they're Knights of Camelot, and turn to try and blend into the forest.   
"Halt!" Someone shouts at my back, and I run. In seconds though, the horses have caught up and surrounded me, a sword tip against my throat beneath the hood. Someone dismounts and pulls my hood down, and I glare at them. He pulls a piece of crumpled paper out of somewhere, holding it up.   
"It's her. Grab her" he orders, but I'm pulling my own sword out and jumping out the way. There's four of them, and I know I really don't stand much of a chance, but the first two I meet their swings, attacking back with just as much force. I fight until I'm knocked down to my knees, smirking that most of them look a little worse for wear. Three swords are pointed at me, pushing in weak spots of my armor.   
"Sheath your sword, slowly. And hands out in front of you" one of them orders me, and I slowly do as I'm told. As soon as my hands are out, they're being bound together tightly with rope. I hiss through my teeth at how tight they are, but I'm pulled to my feet. The man on the other end of the rope keeps it pulled tight, so my hands are no where near my body to get a weapon. I soon work out I need to move or I'll be dragged along as he mounts his horse, starting along at a pace slow enough that I am just this side of running. I can hear them talking about how pleased the King will be that they've finally caught me, talking about all the people I've supposedly killed and the things I've apparently stolen. Refusing to talk to any of them, I ignore them and keep walking, the castle soon coming into sight. 

The knights jump off the horses, the four of them surrounding me as they lead me inside, being allowed entrance into the throne room. I ignore most of the conversation with King Uther, looking around in disinterest. Eventually I pay attention, hearing their plans with what to do with me, as they are more than aware I can just break out of the cells.   
"I'll have her. Take her up to my room and I'll get all the weapons off her, a lady doesn't deserve to be in a cell anyway" a voice says. Arthur, my brain supplies. Uther has a brief conversation which I ignore again, before I'm being dragged up and into what I assume is the Prince's room. My hands are again roped up to some piece of metal or hanging in the ceiling, keeping my hands away from myself. I'm trying to pull it loose when Arthur turns up, watching me. He stands there silently as two servants bring in a large wooden chest with a heavy looking lock. When every one leaves again he moves over to me, taking my cloak off and folding it up, putting it on a table. Instead of talking I just glare at him, also confused.   
"Oh stop glaring at me like that, I did you a favor. It was this or rotting away in the dungeons" he tells me, removing my bag next, just cutting through one part of the strap and pulling it away. "Don't worry I'll fix that." He then goes through the bag, taking out my clothes and leaving them with my cloak, before putting the bag with the shield attached into the chest against the wall. Next he reaches around me to undo the belt with my sword on, taking that off and putting that in the chest.   
"It'll save you some trouble if you just tell me where your weapons are, or I'll have to search all of you." I scowl even more, not speaking for a few seconds.  
"Outside of either boot, knives" I finally tell him, and he crouched down to pull them out, along with the small sheaths they are in, again putting them in the chest.   
"See, that wasn't so hard was it?" I don't respond, taking my own time to look him over. He's wearing just casual clothes, a reddish shirt over trousers and boots, with his own sword at his hip. 

When he coughs I stop staring at him,  
"Thigh sheath, right leg. Three knives in it." I try not to look at him when I feel his hands on my thigh, finding the buckle and removing it. After that he cuts the strap holding the quiver of arrows to my back, the bow attached to that. Unsurprisingly they follow the other weapons. When I don't speak again he takes it as that's all of them, then reaches up to undo the mixed leather and metal vambraces on my forearms. Next he removes to the rest of my armor, removing the shoulder and chest pieces with practised ease, pulling the pieces attached to it that hang further down the outsides of my legs off with them, being careful. I watch almost sadly as it gets put in the chest, before he comes back to pull the chain mail over my head, almost like a dress, coming down to my thighs. He releases each hand just long enough to get it off before securing them again.  
"I've never seen armor like this. I haven't really seen armor on a woman" Arthur admits.   
"Made it myself" I mumble, now left in my boots, tight fabric trousers and a long faded red shirt. I'd had the sleeves rolled up, and they're coming undone but with my arms raised they can't roll themselves down.   
"Is that everything? No more hidden knives?" I shake my head at him, arms aching. He goes to the chest, shutting and locking it before putting the key on a string and around his neck, tucking it under his shirt.   
"I'm not leaving without my things, so you can untie me. I won't go anywhere" I try and bargain, but he shakes his head. Clearly he doesn't believe me, but pulls the rope away from the ceiling. I wince when I lower my arms, and he doesn't untie my wrists. I'm shaking my arms to get feeling back in them, and to push my sleeves down, when his hands take over. He rubs the feeling back into them, before rolling my sleeves down my arms.   
"You won't be untied. You're still a prisoner, and you'd probably be put to death if you weren't from where you are." I scowl at him in annoyance.   
"Where am I going to stay if not in a cell? You may be a Prince but I sure as hell am not sharing with you" I snap at him, growling quietly under my breath when I can't cross my arms.   
"You have to stay here, I can set you up a bed on the floor. My servant will be here soon with everything, so you behave, no escape attempts or killing people." I scowl at him again, before sitting on the floor, leaning against the chest with all my things in. My arms are up in the air, and I pull him towards me with the rope so I can lower my arms. 

A few minutes later the servant comes in with a load of bedding, and watching me curiously. I just glare at him too, tugging on the ropes.   
"Well you look cheerful. So where do you want me to set up this bed Arthur?" He asks, and I frown at how comfortable they are with each other.   
"By the side of my bed, so I can keep an eye on her." The servant nods and goes to set it up.   
"That's Merlin, he's my servant and a friend, so you have to treat him with respect too" Arthur tells me, and I just roll my eyes, pulling harder on the rope and sending him stumbling towards me. I smirk at him, but the next thing I know is his sword at my throat. "I will treat you like the prisoner you are if you do not behave. I can get you chained up permanently instead of just rope!" He snaps, and I raise my hands in a surrendering gesture. Eventually he lowers his sword, and pulls the rope until I have to get up.   
"Whatever you say, Prince. So do I get food? I'm getting a little hungry." I say, looking at the bowl of fruit on the table.   
"You get meals with me, you can even eat at the table if you behave." Despite saying that, he picks me an apple out of the bowl. I nod in thanks, taking a bite out of it.   
"When can I get my arms back? Could you at least tie it a little differently so I can have my hands further apart?" I ask, having to lift both arms to eat.   
"Well it's this or shackles, you get a couple of feet of chain between them but they could be more uncomfortable" he tells me, and Merlin comes back in.   
"Just do it, I can't stand it like this!" I snap.   
"I've set up that bed, I'm guessing you want the shackles then?" He asks Arthur, who nods, sending him off to get them. Untying my wrists, he pulls the rope away so I can stretch before I'm immobilized again.   
"Do you want me to get you a uh...dress before I put them on? I'm sure someone has a decent spare one somewhere" he says, seemingly a little awkward.   
"Eugh dresses. Do I seem like the kind of girl to wear a dress? Or do you not think I look good enough dressed like this?" I ask a little teasingly.   
"I guess not, you uh...look good, I mean uh, you look fine." I smirk as he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, taking my time to roll my shoulders and stretch my arms. 

When Merlin comes back and the tell tale rattle of chains reaches my ears, and I jump into action. I dive forwards, pulling Arthur's sword from his belt and kicking him back, pointing it at him.   
"Let's just say I REALLY don't want to be chained up, and I'm not going to let it happen easily!" I snap, pointing it alternatively between the two of them. Arthur glares at me, before swiftly grabbing up a spare sword he has and pointing it at me.   
"I'd be more than happy to beat you, then put them on you. If you just give up now I won't have to hurt you."  
"You mean you don't want to hurt me. Too scared to fight a girl? Is that it, Prince Arthur?" I sneer, and he hesitates before swinging at me. I block with ease, and soon we're engaged in a full sword fight, dodging and swinging around. Merlin is peeking out from behind a wall, grinning as he watches Arthur lose all hesitation when he realises I can actually hold my own. Despite that, it's over in less than ten minutes, both of us exhausted, and aching from any small injuries. He knocks the sword out of my hand and get his own at my throat.   
"I must say I'm impressed, not many people can last that long against me." With a gesture Merlin comes over with the shackles, before connecting them to my wrists. I glare up at both of them, but he only lowers the sword when Merlin moves away. Pulling my arms as far apart as I can, which is just a little bit wider than my body. Instead of arguing about it I give up on that.   
"What if I want to have a bath? Will I be shackled up for that? Or will I be allowed alone in there?"   
"If you're left alone you will try and escape, but you'll attack anyone else if we let them help you. So I'll have to be in the room. I can take them off while you bathe, and put them back on after" Arthur says after a pause, clearly reluctant to do so but knowing it's for everyone's safety. I scowl even more and try and pull my arms free, only resulting in sore wrists.   
"I'm bored. Do I have to stay locked up in here all day?" I eventually whine, sulking.   
"Well I have to go do some training with my knights, you can watch if you behave" he tells me, and Merlin starts getting him into his armour. I just nod, watching him. 

When we get down to the field, him having dragged me by the chain, he pushes me against a wooden bench, forcing me to sit. I scowl but pull my legs up and sit cross legged, ready to just sit and watch. At first no one pays attention to me, just normal fighting and skills, but I get bored of sitting still so while Arthur isn't looking I hop off the bench and over to the rack of swords. I pick out one that looks decent, admiring it and turning it over. Someone coughs behind me, and I jolt around, eyes wide at being caught. When I see its just one of the knights I relax slightly, but keep the sword in my hand.   
"I don't think you should have that, should you?" He asks, and clearly Arthur has told them all who I am.   
"Probably not. What, you going to take it away?" I ask, my voice mocking. In the same second that he draws his sword, I bring the one in my hand up to block him. My movement is limited because of the chain, but I can still move to a certain extent. He smirks at me when I block him, before moving and swinging from somewhere else. Again I block it, and he seems to be testing what I can do, as he slowly builds up to more complex moves, swinging harder. When I get annoyed of him pausing between each move I start swinging back at him, and soon we're both fighting properly.   
"What did I tell you?!" I hear Arthur shout at me from somewhere, but I ignore him in favour of using the chain between my wrists to block his sword. Despite him shouting, he doesn't move to stop us, the other knights just watching too. I grin as I move forwards, making the knight back up a few steps.   
"So who do I have the pleasure of beating?" I ask eventually, still dodging and swinging.   
"Sir Percival, Knight of Camelot. And who do I have the pleasure of loosing to?" He asks in reply, clearly not thinking that he's loosing.   
"Jessica Louise Aithusa, one of the last remaining members of the Dragon Warriors tribe. Heard of them?" I ask, dodging a blow and using the chain again to block.   
"I think I might've. I have heard that you're pretty fearsome, for a girl." I glare at him and swing particularly hard, sword bouncing off his shoulder.   
"This is rather unfair is it not? You have armour on, and mine has been taken away" I say, only a little sourly.  
"It'll be over in a minute don't worry, Jess."   
"I don't recall saying that was my name" I scowl, having to move backwards now to avoid getting hit.   
"You're a prisoner, I can call you what I want" he snaps back, and I glare angrily, feeling my heel bump into a wooden wall. As I try to push away from it again, he gets his sword in the chain and flick upwards, my hands going up with it before he pushes me, stabbing the sword into the wooden wall with the chain trapped on it. My hands are effectively pinned above my head and I drop my own sword. 

There's cheering from the other knights, Arthur unable to hide a small smile as well.   
"It was a pleasure beating you, Lady Aithusa" he says mockingly, and even I snort at being called a lady.   
"Yeah whatever, gonna let me down now?" I ask, unable to get down myself.   
"No. You stay there, back to training!" Arthur says, then to the rest of his knights. I frown in annoyance when I'm left there, all of them going back to fighting. I keep pulling my arms, but all I get is raw skin on my wrists. Too stubborn to give up, I keep going until my arms are aching hugely and a few drops of blood are trickling down my arms. I whine in pain, again carrying on but stopping when it really does hurt too much. Trying to stay on my tiptoes to keep the weight off my wrists, I soon become even more tired, becoming limp against the wall. When I've decided I've rested long enough, I start trying to pull the sword out of the wall, sliding the chain along the blade until it catches on the guard. When all that does is cut into my wrists more I try and jolt the chain over the grip, jumping up.   
"Stop that!" I hear someone shout, and I look to see it's someone I heard called Sir Leon. I ignore him, just trying to get my arms down. Before I can, Arthur comes back over and pulls the sword out of the wall, scowling at me but his face softening when he sees the blood. He gets the key and unlocks the shackles, and I hiss when they pull off.   
"Let me guess, I'm an idiot and this is my own fault?" I ask quietly, looking up at him though.   
"Not quite. It IS your fault, but I was going to say you're pretty damn good with a sword" Arthur says as he orders Merlin to go and get some water, cloths and bandages to wrap up my arms.   
"Well thanks, I do try. I've been taught all my life to fight" I shrug, going to sit back down on the bench. When Merlin comes back its Arthur himself that cleans up my arms and bandages them up, not putting the shackles back on afterwards.   
"Please be good, I don't want to put them back on you. I'm sure no one else will mind, you haven't done anything too bad to anyone here." I nod pulling my sleeves back over the bandages.   
"Can I train with you? I promise no intentional wounds, just practicing" I ask, trying to sound a lot more innocent than I am.   
"I don't see why not. But if you make even the smallest move to escape..."   
"Yeah yeah I get it, I'll behave." 

I'm given a sword, and soon after I'm fighting Sir Percival and Sir Leon at the same time. It started with me snapping at Sir Percival saying I could take on two of them, and now I'm blocking both of their swords, ducking and swinging back at them. The few others are watching, Arthur not even bothering to try and stop it. I'm grinning, enjoying myself as I spin around, making sure they don't get behind me.   
"This is ridiculous. You're a woman!" Leon exclaims, and I just smirk and knock his sword away as he tries to disarm me. Percival is also in the same state of disbelief. He motions, and Sir Gwaine jumps forwards as well.   
"This is getting a little unfair isn't it boys?" I'm pretty sure Arthur agrees with me, but doesn't say anything. I manage to last another few minutes, before Percival knocks my sword out of my hand, Gwaine kicks the back of my knees so I fall onto them and Leon gets his sword across my throat, all of us panting heavily. Apparently our fight had gathered quite a crowd, as people start clapping, and I'm not sure wether it's for me or the three knights. They sheath their swords, and Lancelot comes over from Arthur's side to help me up. I smile as he pulls me to my feet, dusting off my knees.   
"You're stupidly good at that" he tells me, and I just grin. They quickly hide their impressed looks as Arthur comes over.   
"Not bad. It's time to eat soon, but you have time for a bath before that if you want one?" I nod eagerly, hot and sweaty from fighting. He leads me back inside and to his room, constantly making sure I haven't ran off.   
"I can get you clothes identical to those ones for afterwards. But I still can't leave you on your own, part of the deal I made with my father" he tells me, and we pick up clothes for me on the way. I frown slightly but don't say anything, and when the bath is full I pull off my boots. I don't take anything else off until Arthur has his back turned, getting under the water and bubbles before he can face me again. He's still being fairly polite and not looking directly at me.   
"Is this something Prince's normally do?" I ask.   
"No not at all, but I'm one of the best swordsmen in the kingdom, therefore the best qualified to stop you from escaping. And I assumed you'd rather bathe yourself than have a maid do it for you?"   
"I am perfectly capable of cleaning myself!" I snap, proving his point. With another scowl I start scrubbing at my skin, dunking my head under to wet my hair and then wash that.   
"Can you turn around again while I get out?" I ask, rinsing all the bubbles off. He seems reluctant to take his eyes off me, but faces the wall anyway. Quickly jumping out, I rub myself dry as fast as possible, eyes flicking up to him every now and then.   
"Can I look back yet?" He asks as I pull the shirt on.   
"Go for it, I'm nearly done" I say, and he turns around as I pull the trousers up, pleased that they are so similar to my own clothes. Next I move down to lace up my boots, before standing back up to rub dry my hair. 

A few minutes later he has redone the bandages around my wrists and we are heading down to eat. I've had to have the shackles on again, but the bandages mean they aren't digging into my skin, and I'll be fine as long as I don't pull against them. Arthur leads us to a large room with a just as large table set up inside, covered in food. The King and Morgana, who Arthur told me about, are already sat down, with a place set for himself.   
"The prisoner can sit on the floor, there's a plate ready for her" the King says as we walk in, and I glare at him coldly as I follow Arthur to his seat. I grab the full plate for me and sit on the floor by the Prince's chair. Despite having to sit on the floor, I'm given a fork and soon have eaten all of the food that was on the plate, not even listening to their conversation. At some point I'm handed a cup of water, and happily drink that too.   
"So how is it going with her? Any escape attempts?" The King asks his son in a pause of eating.   
"Only one, she's been pretty good since then. She came out onto the training field with me, and got a sword. But she's good, lasted ten minutes at least against three of the best knights. If she decides to be good permanently, she could be a real asset to the kingdom" he says, looking down at me with a small smile. I had been listening to them, so look back up at him and smile shyly, denying to myself that I'm blushing.   
"So what do you suggest? We give her the weapons back and tell her to act as one of the knights? Do you realise how risky that is? As well as improbable,"   
"Obviously we can't trust her, but her training is at the level, if not higher, of the knights. I'm not saying you make her one, but think about it. Until then I'll keep watching her, and she can be included in the training if she behaves all the time. The shackles stay on for most of the time and she's never alone." Arthur argues, soon getting an affirmative from his father. They finish eating and stand up, and I get up to follow Arthur, blanking the other two at the table.   
"So...I'm aloud to train with you?" I ask hopefully.   
"If you behave yourself, no escaping" he tells me, and I nod with an innocent smile. 

In the middle of the night I rouse myself from my makeshift bed, the chain laying forgotten on a table as Arthur decided I wasn't going anywhere, especially when I was faking sleep straight away. Using my skills to my advantage, I move silently across the room, getting the door open and shut again in silence too. I stick to the shadows, but there isn't many people around, so I'm soon outside of the castle. First I stop off at the training grounds to get a sword, unable to get my own. I decide I can come back for the rest of my things, or maybe I'm just doing this to annoy Arthur and want to get caught again. Either way I take the sword, moving through the smaller houses to where I see the trees towering. With a triumphant grin I reach the trees, ducking behind one and turning to see if I was followed.   
"Way too easy" I mutter to myself, and start just walking away through the trees. I'm walking for a few minutes before two swords are pointed at me, and two guards appear in front of me. I swear quietly, not even sure how they got in front, and lift up my own sword in defence.   
"Come to take me back boys?" I ask lightly, before the first one comes forwards, in seconds I'm fighting him off, only finding it midly more difficult when the second joins in. I keep them together, not letting one get behind me. It's clear they don't care about hurting me, as I end up with a few scratches from not being fast enough. When I run out of space and stumble against a tree, one jumps forwards and slams the hilt of his sword against my face, and I feel it split my lip as I go dizzy, swinging my sword in front of me almost blindly. My vision clears despite the throbbing in my head, and I push off the tree to carry on fighting. But there's another guard, coming up behind me and hitting me in the back of the head with something, knocking me to my knees. Before I can jump back up my hands are twisted up behind my back, forcing me to drop the sword. Again before I can get out of their grip, shackles are clamping around my wrists, keeping them close together.   
"You're going back to Prince Arthur, and he may not be so lenient this time!" One of them snaps at me, dragging me to my feet with a hand in my hair. He keeps it there as the three of them march me back, straight into the castle and to where Uther and Arthur are waiting. I'm pushed back to my knees in front of them, and the guards are thanked and dismissed. 

"Another escape attempt. This is not acceptable if you expect to be treated well here, we can throw you into a cell if you'd prefer?" Uther questions. I shake my head after a few seconds, but am looking right up at him defiantly.   
"How about we carry on as normal. There's always people watching her, and soon she will realise she can't escape and give up" Arthur says, looking at his father and not me.   
"And what if she learns, manages to get out?"   
"Then I hunt her down and bring her back myself" he says, no doubt in his voice as he finally fixes his gaze on me. I just look right back at him blankly.   
"It's not nice to talk about people when they're right here" I say, in a slightly childish voice, before smirking and rolling back onto my feet, standing up.   
"Take her away, leave those on her wrists for now as well" Uther orders and Arthur comes over to me, turning me around and pulling me by my arm out of the room.   
"You're doing this on purpose aren't you? Do you like the idea of me chasing you then?" He asks sharply, and I just grin at him, all the answer he needs. He gets a thoughtful look on his face before pulling me back to his room. "So I'm guessing you'd enjoy the idea of me and my knights chasing you. You enjoy fighting though don't you?"   
"Yeah, I especially enjoy men's faces when they lose to a girl, or how surprised they are at my skill. See you're all talk about chasing me, but that means you'd have to catch me, and I don't think you could do that" I tease with another grin. He almost growls in anger, before shoving me onto the floor on my bed.   
"Go to sleep. Now. I've given the guards permission to take you down any way possible if you get out again!" He orders, and I wink at him before rolling to lie on my stomach so my arms aren't trapped under me. I turn my head to the side, hearing him get back into bed before I fall asleep. 

I'm woken up by the pain in my arms, and then the fact that I can't feel most of them. I groan as I struggle to sit up, trying to relieve some of the pressure on my arms. That's when the door opens and Merlin walks in, clearly there to wake up Arthur and give him his breakfast.   
"Merlin? Please get these off me, my arms hurt..." I whine at him, trying not to wake Arthur.   
"You know I can't do that, you'd escape again" he says, putting the food on the table and moving towards me. "And I don't have the key, Arthur does. So you'll have to ask him." I frown in annoyance as Merlin then wakes him up. I use my legs to push myself to my feet, glaring at Arthur as he sits up in bed.   
"Can you take these off?! I can't feel my arms!" I whine loudly, my back to him and holding my hands in front of his face. He scowls at me briefly but fishes the key from somewhere and takes them off, and I go to sulk somewhere and rub my sore wrists, as well as feeling back into my arms.   
"If you keep trying to escape, my father will have you executed eventually. So just try and keep out of trouble?" Arthur tells me as he goes to the table, picking bits of his breakfast off and eating it. While his back is turned, I turn around and jump into his bed, groaning at how comfortable it is as I get under the covers, boots kicked off in the night.   
"Jess! Out of my bed right now!" I hear Arthur snap, and I frown at the shortened name but shrug it off, pulling the covers over my head. When he reaches over and grabs the corner of the covers, pulling them off, I grab his wrist and pull him on the bed, smirking when he ends up sprawled over me.   
"Well, if this is what happens when you catch me, I'm gonna run off much more often" I tease. He looks flustered for a few seconds, before he decides to play along. Grabbing both of my wrists, he pins them down next to my head, using his weight to hold me still.   
"And I suppose you'd enjoy this too? Being held down so you can't escape again?" He questions, and its me that is flustered this time, making a half hearted attempt to throw him off before going still. With a triumphant smirk, he lets go of one wrist, dragging me off the bed with the other when he gets up.   
"Not fair" I mumble, taking the offered clean clothes from Merlin, identical except a blue shirt this time, and when he leaves to do something else, I shamelessly get changed in the middle of the room, not even looking at Arthur. Apparently I still haven't earned my arms free yet, as they're secured behind my back again. 

"If you want to eat, you do it like an animal, or ask me to feed you" Arthur says, smiling smugly.   
"Humiliating me won't work to make me behave, just so you know" I point out, "But can I have an apple?" I ask him, not looking at him.   
"Say please."   
"Please, feed me an apple, Prince Arthur" I ask mockingly, finally looking at him to see him roll his eyes and pick up an apple. He hold it towards me, but still only about a foot away from him, so I move closer, but it's lower than my head by a few inches. I glare at him, waiting for him to lift it up.   
"What? You not hungry anymore?" He questions, that irritating smug look on his face again. I glare harder, but bend down those few inches to take a large bite out of the apple, juice running down my chin and down his fingers. He smirks at it all over my face, but stays silent as I eat the whole thing, getting him back at the end.   
"Let me help with all that...'' I say, reaching back down and licking some of the juice off his fingers, smirking at his stunned expression when I straighten back up. With another eye roll, he recovers and grabs a cloth to wipe off my face, dumping the apple core back on the tray.   
"I'm going out with all my knights again, you obviously have to come, but I'd suggest against getting in a fight, I'm leaving your hands like that" he tells me, before grabbing my shackled hands and leading me outside. I sulk unhapppily, especially when I'm pushed back onto the same bench to watch again.   
"Can't I join in again?" I whine, just getting a sharp glare and a shake of his head in return. So I have to sit and watch them training and fighting, but decide I'm not going to do as I'm told and stay still. I check that they're all distracted, before just getting up and walking off. The first thing I see is the stables, so I walk pretty quickly towards them and slip inside the partially open door.   
"Calm down! I'm not going to hurt you!" I hear, then see a stable boy shouting at a horse that keeps rearing up on its back legs. A closer look and I recognise him as my own horse, Thorn, who got caught when I was stealing food from a town once.   
"Hey! Get away from him!" I shout, seeing the boy is scaring him. He's a large, black horse, with a sleek coat and muscles making him perfect for running. The boy startles and jolts back, and I'm quick to move forwards, right into the path of my panicking horse, but when he sees me he drops back down to all fours.   
"Who are you? Are you a prisoner? I'm going to get the guards" he says before running off. I ignore him, leaning against Thorn's neck, unable to hug him but he puts his head over my shoulder.   
"Missed you boy, they been taking good care of you?" I mumble into his neck, hearing people running and shouting outside, guessing Arthur and the knights have come to grab me. 

"Jess what are you doing? Do I have to chain you to that bench?" Arthur demands from behind me, and I move away from my horse, turning to glare at him.   
"I was bored, then I found my horse. Excuse me for wanting some time with him, I missed him" I say, and said horse noses against my back.   
"That horse was found in the forest, with no one in sight, how do I know that's the truth?"   
"All he had on him was a simple saddle, and I was in that town nearby stealing us food. He will listen to me, he's the best horse you could ask for, and your stupid stable boy was scaring him!" I snap. To prove it more, I say "Up!" And Thorn goes up on his back legs, careful not to kick me, before he drops back down. "Good boy," I coo into his neck again, growling when I can't stroke him because of my arms.   
"Okay fine, he's yours. He'll be taken good care of, now come on, will you stop running away if I let you fight with a couple of my knights? No swords though" Arthur says, and I scowl as I go over to him, letting him grab the short chain between the shackles and lead me out.   
"Behave!" I shout back to Thorn, before walking. "Yeah fine, and technically I didn't run away, I walked" I point out, and he just pushes me forward harder.   
"Sir Percival can keep an eye on you, maybe that will put you off fighting without a sword."   
"Not that likely. I can fight with a sword, and a bow and arrow, and knives, and without weapons, so just because he's tall, won't mean anything" I tell him, and we get back to the training field and he undoes my hands, calling Sir Percival over and telling him to keep an eye on me, fighting if he wants to.   
"Another escape attempt? Really Jess?" He questions, and I scowl at him.   
"Don't call me that, and if I really wanted to escape, it wouldn't just be an attempt" I point out, pushing him away playfully.   
"Okay...Lady Jess" he says with a smirk, pushing me back and making me fall back to sit on the bench.   
"Take your armor off and I'll have you on the floor in minutes, Sir Percival" I say, sneering his name and title.   
"Yeah, I think not" he says, but I can see straight through it.   
"What? Are you just too scared? Or do you know I'd beat you?" I taunt, but he just rolls his eyes and pushes me again to sit on the bench as soon as I get up. He then proceeds to ignore me. 

I stand it for a few minutes, before I stand up again, slowly as he's distracted by the knights training. Not giving it much thought, I turn and run with everything I have, darting behind things so they don't see where I go, but heading towards the castle. I get about thirty seconds before I hear shouting, and I just ignore it all and get into the castle, remaining as hidden as possible. When the alarm bell starts ringing, I smirk, kind of flattered they think that much of me that they have to sound the alarm.   
"Prisoner escaped! Search everywhere!" Someone shouts from around the corner, and I hide until the two guards run past. After that I quickly take the memorized path to Arthur's room. I'm not really trying to escape or anything, just tired, but still not going to do things the easy way. So when I slip into his room I leave my boots and trousers at the bottom of the bed on the floor, leaving me in just my shirt, mid-thigh, my underwear, and the bandage wrapped around my chest to minimize jiggling, helpful when I'm constantly fighting and running around all the time.   
"Search the castle, and get out to the forest and village!' Another guard shouts from the corridor outside. Obviously I don't give myself up, instead crawling into the Prince's bed, fed up with my own on the floor. I planned to stay awake until someone found me and dragged me back to Arthur, but after some time has passed and no one has thought to check in his room, I end up actually falling asleep, curled up in the middle of the bed.   
"Jess! I come to my room to get things to go and hunt you down, and look what I find!" Arthur snaps, about half an hour later when he walks in. I'm roused from my sleep, grumbling and cuddling into a pillow.   
"I was tired!" I finally whine, then hear as he tells a guard outside that the panic is over.   
"Why have you taken some of your clothes off?" He asks, moving back towards me. Merlin had come in and has started taking off his armor.   
"It was this or naked, I could do that though if you want?" I ask as teasingly as I can while still being half asleep. Merlin coughs loudly, and Arthur is speechless for a couple of seconds before getting a hold of himself.   
"Not particularly. Why didn't you just ask me instead of running away? This is not the best way to earn back any freedom, you know" he points out and I just scoff.   
"Because where's the fun in that?" I ask, trying to block him out and go back to sleep. He does stop talking, but soon something is clasping around my still bandaged wrist, the shackles again, but the other end is connected the the head board. "Kinky" I mumble.   
"You can stay here then. And don't complain, this is what you wanted isn't it?"   
"In a decent bed yeah, not necessarily chained to it. But I can work with it, believe it or not I've been here before," I tell him, getting back into my former position, arm higher up this time though. I hear a sigh from Arthur, before the sound of the door, and I'm left alone.


End file.
